The Guardian Climate Change

Oil giant has denied involvement, but climate activists are closely watching court case against Israeli private investigator for answers

A group of American climate activists are closely watching a US court case that could reveal who hired hackers to target their inboxes a decade ago.

In 2015, a set of explosive media reports revealed that ExxonMobil’s own scientists determined as early as 1982 that the extraction and burning of fossil fuels caused the climate crisis – but Exxon went on to fund climate denial campaigns anyway. The reports prompted attorneys general to investigate the company.

Vulnerable people more at risk as research finds only half of local authority plans require cooling strategies

England risks constructing a new generation of “death trap” buildings that can fatally overheat unless the government tightens standards and prioritises climate safeguards, planning experts have said.

Fears are growing about the plight of vulnerable people in heatwaves, with research this week suggesting that 2,700 people had died in the May and June heatwaves in England and Wales. Yet only about half of local plans being drawn up by councils and local authorities require new buildings to have a cooling or ventilation strategy to prevent overheating, according to findings from the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) and the Town and Country Planning Association (TCPA).

Annual State of the UK Climate analysis finds last four years in UK are in top five hottest on record

The UK’s climatic extremes are becoming increasingly normal, a report has found, with last year the hottest on record and further “unprecedented changes” likely to break the record again soon.

Data stretching back to 1884 shows the UK has never experienced a year as hot as 2025, according to the annual State of the UK Climate report, with temperatures pushed to dizzying heights by carbon pollution clogging the atmosphere.

Fire broke out last Thursday in the southeastern province of Almería, which is home to many foreign residents

Seven Britons are among 12 foreign nationals killed in wildfires in southern Spain, authorities said.

Officials said 12 of the 13 victims were foreign nationals after completing postmortem examinations after the fires that swept through Andalusia.

Government to launch campaign to help people cope with events such as weather emergencies or cyber-attacks

The British public should begin taking “small but important steps” to secure and protect water, power supplies and basic phone signal in case of further severe weather emergencies, national crises or cyber-attacks, Downing Street has said.

Darren Jones, the chief secretary to the prime minister, told MPs “the risks we face from climate change cannot be underestimated”, and warned of the “significant and prolonged disruption to essential services” extreme weather events could cause.

Around the world, climate-sceptic parties are exploiting floods and fires to make political capital. Without urgent changes, this deadly spiral will continue

Recent unprecedented heatwaves in the UK may have killed thousands of people. Children are suffering in overheating schools. NHS trusts are straining under record-breaking demand. This all comes after climate extremes have even affected national security, with three of Britain’s five worst harvests coming since 2020, impairing food security.

This is what life looks like in the “adaptation gap”.

Laurie Laybourn is executive director of the Strategic Climate Risks Initiative

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Badenoch’s ideological purge gathers pace as moderates are cast out and the Tories edge ever closer to political extinction

You have to hand it to Kemi Badenoch. She doesn’t take any prisoners. While the rest of us have been trying to survive a heatwave and are wondering if air-con may be needed for future summers, the Tory leader has taken a more hardline approach to climate change. Call it Schrödinger’s climate change. It’s both happening and not happening at the same time.

Kemi is just about sane enough not to be an out-and-out denier. She leaves that to Reform. Mind you, no one would put it past her to suggest the scientists have got it wrong if the temperature drops for a few days. But her view is that while climate change may be real, there’s no point in trying to do anything about it.

Exclusive: Analysis of nearly 2,500 articles finds almost three-quarters made no reference to global heating

Most of the UK media stories about the record-breaking heatwave that struck in June failed to mention the climate crisis, analysis has found.

Nearly 2,500 articles about the extreme heat – when temperatures topped 37C, a record for the time of year – appeared in the UK’s nine main national daily media publications. But nearly three-quarters of them – about 72% – left out any mention of global heating or the climate, according to the analysis by the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU).

Operator brings in independent legal firm to look into whistleblower allegations relating to June heatwave

Great Britain’s grid operator has brought in independent investigators to look into accusations that its staff were involved in a cover-up over the power system being at a greater risk of blackouts during the heatwave.

The government-owned energy system operator will face the scrutiny of an external legal firm after a whistleblower claimed that control room staff were warned against leaving a paper trail relating to efforts to stabilise the power system during record high temperatures in late June.

National Fire Chiefs Council say emergency services dealing with 19 wildfires across Britain, many near urban areas

The UK is in the grip of a “firewave”, as the summer’s extreme heat produces the ideal conditions for wildfires, scientists and environmentalists have warned.

A particular danger was that more blazes seem to be taking place closer to urban areas rather than in remote countryside, causing hazards to homes and health, they said.

Pete and Fran Gillam confirmed dead as authorities use DNA samples to identify victims of blaze in Almería

A British couple have been named among the 13 people killed by wildfires in Spain, as authorities race to use DNA to identify victims who were unable to escape the blaze.

Pete and Fran Gillam, who lived in Bédar, the village that bore the brunt of the wildfires on Thursday, were confirmed dead by their family.

Breathable fabrics and loose cuts are in. It’s possible to beat the heat without dressing like you’re off to the beach or the lido

Never mind weddings or job interviews. When it comes to getting dressed, the past few weeks have confirmed that the biggest challenge is what to wear to the office during a heatwave. I write this as Europe is grappling with record-breaking temperatures due to the climate crisis. In the UK, fire brigades have issued wildfire alerts, with temperatures reaching more than 36C. My street now resembles an art installation, with varying colours and patterns of bed sheets taped to windows in the battle against the heat. The corner shop has pivoted to selling fans. And everyone is lingering just that little bit longer in the freezer aisle.

Given the somewhat apocalyptic conditions, getting dressed to go to the office is the last thing anyone wants to think about, mainly because it feels wrong to be working. But for those of us who haven’t timed our annual leave to coincide with the heatwave peak, it’s off to work we go.

Wildfire quickly burnt more than 800 hectares, with villages evacuated, highway partly closed and high-speed rail disrupted

French officials rushed two firefighting planes to the Paris region on Sunday after a “very virulent” fire of “exceptional scale” erupted in the sprawling Fontainebleau forest about 60km (40 miles) south-east of the capital.

The fire began late afternoon in the one-time royal hunting preserve that today is dotted with quiet villages. It raced across 800 hectares (2,000 acres) and was still spreading early on Monday, officials said, causing the partial closure of the A6 highway, the country’s main north-south artery, and disrupting traffic during a busy, heatwave-stricken summer travel weekend.

Children confirmed safe but men pronounced dead after being brought out of water at Seaton Carew, Hartlepool

Two men have died after going into the water at a beach in County Durham to try to help two children, police said.

Officers were called at about 3.45pm on Sunday after concerns were raised about two children in the water at Seaton Carew beach in Hartlepool.

Pair airlifted to hospital in two-hour rescue operation after Guardia Civil searched area for survivors

A British couple have been found badly burned and semi-conscious in a Spanish ravine amid deadly wildfires that have swept through the country’s Almería province, according to local media reports.

The couple were on holiday in the region and were thought to be out hiking when they were caught up in the wildfire, which has so far killed 12 people and burned more than 6,000 hectares (14,800 acres). At least 23 people are missing.

Byelection winner says heatwaves are causing ‘absolute chaos’ and workers need protection from unsafe conditions

The Green MP Hannah Spencer is to introduce a bill in parliament that would pave the way for a maximum workplace temperature in the UK, as the country grapples with increasingly frequent heatwaves.

If passed, the legislation will create an independent body to recommend maximum safe workplace temperatures and set out how those recommendations should be implemented.

Environmental and refugee groups have joined forces to benefit lives and wildlife in Wales and elsewhere

Shielding his eyes from the blinding midday sun, Abdullah, a Sudanese asylum seeker, gazes out at the expanse of green in Tŷ Mawr country park in north Wales.

“This place is so beautiful,” he says. “It feels a very long way from the Home Office.”

Dozens of projects are in development across US despite concerns over environmental and health risks

The plan to bury carbon under remote Indiana farmland is supposed to be a slam dunk for the climate, according to its supporters – all generously funded by US tax dollars.

But as far as Melissa Harrison and some other residents of Clymers, Indiana, are concerned, it just might be the end of their town. “This is our place,” she says. Generations of her family are buried in the cemetery, and she is raising her five grandchildren in one of several dozen white-clapboard homes among corn fields and industrial plants serving the farming industry.

Weather cycle threatens harvests worldwide, adding to inflation already fuelled by the Iran war

Economists are warning that a “super” El Niño weather cycle this year could cause a severe shock to global food prices lasting into 2028.

As the Iran war pushes up world food prices to the highest level in three years, economists said supply chains faced “two shocks at once” stoked by extreme weather linked to global heating.